Howard Morgan, Off-Duty Black Cop Shot 28 Times By White Officers, Sentenced To 40 Years In Prison

Morgan was a police officer for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Line. He was off-duty, when he was pulled over the Chicago police for driving the wrong way on a one-way street.

Accounts of what transpired next vary depending on the source. The officers said Morgan opened fire with his service Glock 9mm when they tried to arrest him.

The officers shot at him 21 times in the back and 7 in the chest. Morgan allegedly injured one office in the shootout.

Morgan's wife believed the incident was racially motivated.

Four white officers and one black Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad police man with his weapon on him - around the corner from our home - and he just decided to go crazy? No. That's ludicrous, said Rosalind Morgan to the Chicago Sun Times.

Morgan, 61, spent seven months in the hospital recovering from his wounds.

Prior to this incident, Morgan has no other convictions and had never been in trouble, no prior arrests, no drugs, no alcohol, said his wife.

Change.org started a petition to try and get the charges against Morgan dropped. Occupy Chicago threw their support behind Morgan as well.

After being left for dead, he survived and was then charged with attempted murder of the four white officers who brutalized him, wrote Occupy Chicago on their website.  

He was charged with four counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of aggravated battery with a firearm and one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm.

Morgan was originally found not guilty on three counts, including firing his weapon, yet the jury could not agree on the attempted murder charge. The judge in the case declared a mistrial, and the case went to court again. The jury was not allowed to hear of Morgan's acquittal.

This time, the jury found Morgan guilty of attempted murder.

My heart is very heavy, but I have to maintain my composure because I don't want them to think they got the best of us, said Morgan's wife to NBC Chicago upon hearing the sentence.

Morgan's family said that the officers have tried to obstruct justice in the case by not collecting enough forensic evidence. According to the change.org petition, Morgan's van was crushed before any forensic evidence could be gathered, he was never tested for gun residue, and the state did not produce the actual bullet proof vest worn by officers.

If they can do this and eliminate double jeopardy and your constitutional rights, then my God, I fear for every Afro-American -- whether they be male or female -- in this corrupt unjust system, Morgan's wife told the Chicago Sun Times.

Morgan was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He faced a sentence of up to 80 years.

In court Thursday, Officer John Wrigley said he's angry Morgan didn't show remorse for his actions.

You shot me, Morgan, Wrigley yelled in court, according to NBC Chicago. You came very close to taking my life.